Taqlid: Meaning &
Reality
By Sayyid
Muhammed Rizvi
Some General Terms
Wajib
- obligatory, necessary, incumbent. An act which must be performed. You
will be rewarded for performing it and punished for neglecting it, e.g.,
the daily prayers, the fasting of Ramadhan.
Ihtiyat wajib
- precautionarily obligatory. Its significance is the same as that of
wajib with the difference that in the problems where a mujtahid
says it is "precautionarily obligatory", one has the option of leaving
his taqlid (following) in this particular problem and following
the rulings of the second-best mujtahid in that problem.
Haram
- forbidden, prohibited. It is necessary to abstain from the
acts which are haram. If someone performs a haram act, he will be
punished, e.g., eating pork.
Sunnat, Mustahab
- recommendable, desirable. The acts whose neglect is not
punished, but whose performance is rewarded, e.g., the call for prayers
(adhan).
Makruh
- reprehensible, disliked. The acts whose performance is not
punished, but whose avoidance is rewarded, e.g., eating in the state of
janabat.
Ja'iz, Halal, Mubah
- permitted, allowed, lawful, legal. The acts or the thing which
are permitted and lawful. There is no reward for performing it and no
punishment for neglecting it, e.g., drinking tea. Mubah is
exclusively used for lawful things, not for permitted actions.
What is taqlid?
Taqlid
literally means "to follow (someone)", "to
imitate". In Islamic legal terminology it means to follow a mujtahid
in religious laws and commandment as he has derived them. A
mujtahid is a person who is an expert of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh);
he is also called a faqih. In order to see where and why the
practice of taqlid gained acceptance in the Shi'i world, it is
necessary first to explain it in some detail.
Man's nature dictates that he can only
function properly within a society, and a society depends for its
existence on laws and regulations. Islam teaches that Allah has sent a
series of messengers and prophets with divine laws for man's guidance
from the very beginning of his existence. The final Messenger and
Prophet was Muhammad bin `Abdullah (may the peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him and his Household) who brought the last and most perfect of
God's religious messages, Islam, which is to serve as a guide for
mankind till the end of time.
Allah is the Creator of man and the
universe, and so only He can, or has the right, to make laws for us. The
prophets and messengers are merely the teachers and proclaimers of
Allah's laws and regulations; they cannot make laws themselves. The
teachings of Shi'ah Islam say that the Imam is the successor of the
Prophet and acts as the preserver and interpreter of Islam and its
divine law, the shari'ah. In the earliest period of Islamic
history, the Prophet guided the Muslim community (ummah) in every
step it made, and was there to solve all its difficulties. From the time
of the first Imam, `Ali, until the death of the eleventh, the Imam Hasan
al-`Askari, peace be upon them, the Shi'ah received guidance directly
from the Imams. Then, during the period of the Lesser Occultation (al-ghaybatu
's-sughra) of the Twelfth Imam, he himself successively appointed
four representatives1
who acted as the link between the Imam and his Shi'ahs. However, when
the present Imam, peace be upon him, went into his Greater Occultation (al-ghaybatu
'l-kubra) in 329/941 in obedience to Allah's command, the Shi'ah
were obliged to observe taqlid in their religious affairs.
Is taqlid reasonable in a time of
widespread education?
It is not always reasonable to follow
others and to hold uncritical faith in their opinions. We can
distinguish four possible forms that imitation could take:
a) that of an ignorant person by an
ignorant person,
b) that of a learned person by a more
learned person,
c) that of an ignorant person by a
learned person,
d) that of a learned person by a less
learned person.
It is quite clear that the first three
forms of imitation are unreasonable and can serve no purpose. However,
the fourth kind is obviously not only reasonable, but also necessary and
a matter of common sense; in our everyday life we follow and imitate
others in many things; we like to feel that we are taking the advice of
experts in matters outside our own knowledge. Someone who wishes to
build a house explains the basic idea of what he wants to his builder
and then submits to his advice as to how he should go about the actual
construction; the invalid follows the treatment advised by his doctor; a
litigant consults a lawyer when drawing up his case for presentation in
court. The examples are abundant; in most cases the advice is taken
voluntarily, but sometimes the citizen in a country may be required by
law to seek expert advice and act upon it, before, for example, he is
allowed to take some particularly dangerous drug. The clearest example
is obviously in case of a legal dispute between two parties, where they
are required to take their grievances before a judge and abide by his
decision if they cannot settle their dispute amicably. The practice of
taqlid is an example of the same kind: the person who is not an
expert in jurisprudence is legally required to follow the instructions
of the expert, i.e., the mujtahid. And in this case the
requirement is an obligation which must be observed, for it is an
essential part of the divine law.
It should be observed that taqlid
pertains only to the realm of the shari'ah; there can be no
taqlid in the matters of belief (usulu 'd-din). A Muslim
must hold his belief in the fundamentals of his religion after attaining
conviction of their truth through examination and reflection. The Qur'an
very clearly condemns those who follow others blindly in matters of
belief:
And when it is said to them, "Come
now to what Allah has sent down, and the Messenger," they say, "Enough
for us is what we found our fathers doing". What, even if their
fathers had knowledge of naught and were not rightly-guided? (5:104)
This strong condemnation of the
idol-worshippers is repeated elsewhere:
And when it is said to them,
"Follow what Allah has sent down," they say, "No, but we will follow
such things as we found our fathers doing." (2:170
and 31:20)
This does not mean that one must
necessarily hold belief contrary to those of one's forefathers; what the
Qur'an is saying is that one should not follow them blindly, i.e.,
without considering the validity of one's reasons for holding them. The
Islamic attitude towards fundamental belief is that one may consider the
views and opinions of others, but that one should only accept that which
is reasonable to believe:
So give thou (O Muhammad!) good
tidings to My servants who give ear to the word and follow the fairest
of it. Those are they whom Allah has guided; those are men possessed
of minds. (39:17)
To summarize, it may be said that the
only approach to Islam is by accepting its tenets in such a way as one
is entirely convinced of their validity, and this can only come about if
one examines them carefully and conscientiously. Once one has come to
accept these tenets it follows as a necessary consequence that one must
adhere to the shari'ah, either by following a mujtahid in
taqlid, or by undertaking the acquisition of learning and piety
to such a degree that one becomes a mujtahid oneself.
Taqlid in the Qur'an and hadith
The Qur'an instructs Muslims to seek
guidance from people of learning in matters about which they lack
knowledge:
"Question the people of
remembrance if you do not know." (21:7)
It is an obligation in Islamic law to
study everything which is necessary for the spiritual and material
development and well-being of an Islamic community, but it is an
obligation which is known as wajib kifa'i. In the
present instance, for example, an Islamic society has need of experts in
the medical sciences, in physics and chemistry, engineering, education,
and so forth, and as long as there is a lack of knowledge in these areas
it is an obligation on the community as a whole to acquire it, which
means that a group of Muslims should devote themselves to research so as
to benefit the Islamic people as a whole. Similarly, an Islamic society
without experts in the shari'ah cannot properly consider itself
Islamic, so it is an obligation for a group of persons from this society
to devote themselves to the study of the religious sciences, so as to
provide divine guidance for all Muslims. This is the meaning contained
in the verse of the Qur'an which states:
"But why should not a party from
every section of them (the believers) go forth to become learned in
the religion, and to warn their people when they return to them, that
they may beware?" (9:124)
It is clear that the Imams used to be
pleased if any of their companions taught religion or gave legal rulings
(fatwa) to others. There are a number of documented cases of
Shi'ahs who lived far from Medina asking the Imam of the time to appoint
someone in their locality to adjudicate between them in religious
problems. Zakariyyah ibn Adam al-Qummi and Yunus bin `Abduí r-Rahman,
for example, were named by Imam `Ali ar-Rida' to solve disputes in their
own districts.
In a famous hadith, `Umar ibn Hanzalah asked Imam
Ja`far as-Sadiq, peace be upon him, about the legality of two Shi'ahs
seeking a verdict from an illegitimate ruler in a dispute over a debt or
a legacy. The Imam's answer was that it was absolutely forbidden to do
so. Then Ibn Hanzalah asked what the two should do, and the Imam
replied: "They must seek out one of you who narrates our traditions, who
is versed in what is permissible and what is forbidden, who is
well-acquainted with our laws and ordinances, and accept him as judge
and arbiter, for I appoint him as judge over you. If the ruling which he
based on our laws is rejected, this rejection will be tantamount to
ignoring the order of Allah and rejecting us is the same as rejecting
Allah, and this is the same as polytheism."
In another tradition from Imam Ja'far
as-Sadiq, this time narrated by Imam Hasan al-`Askari, peace be upon
them, he says, "...but if there is anyone among the fuqaha' who
is in control over his own self, protects his religion, suppresses his
evil desires and is obedient to the commands of his Master, then the
people should follow him."
A third hadith is from the
Present Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, peace be upon him, who said in a reply
to Ishaq ibn Ya'qub: "As far as newly occurring circumstances are
concerned, you should turn (for guidance) to the narrators of our
ahadith, for they are my proof over you just as I am Allah's proof."
We can understand two things from these verses of the Qur'an and the
ahadith of the Imams: 1) there must always be a group of fuqaha'
in every Muslim society; 2) those who are not qualified as fuqaha'
or mujtahids, must follow one, and that to go against his
instruction in religious matters is tantamount to polytheism.
The necessary conditions for
qualification as a mujtahid
It can easily be inferred from the
second of the ahadith cited above that becoming an expert in
fiqh and the other Islamic sciences is not in itself enough for
qualification as a mujtahid whom everyone can follow. In addition
to this, Islamic law lays down that a mujtahid should be a free
man of legitimate birth who is past the age of puberty, sane, an Ithna-`ashari
Shi'ah, and `adil, (which can be translated as 'just', but which
includes other moral and legal qualities, such as piety and abstention
from all that the shari`ah forbids and fulfillment of all its
obligations).
As to the question of how an ordinary
believer should discover who is the mujtahid he must follow,
there are three recognized ways: 1) by his own personal knowledge if he
is himself a religious scholar; 2) by the testimony of two `adil,
knowledgeable persons to someone's being a mujtahid; 3) by a
degree of popularity which leaves no doubt as to a person's being a
mujtahid.
Most present day `ulama'
maintain that it is most desirable to follow a mujtahid who is
al-a`lam. In a general sense this means 'the most learned', but in
this specific contexts it means the faqih who has the greatest
expertise in deriving the rulings of the shari`ah from the
sources. The a`lam may be recognized in any of the three ways a
mujtahid can.
However, it is sometimes difficult for the Shi'ah `ulama'
to distinguish whom among all the fuqaha' is the most
learned, and, as a result, more than one mujtahid may be followed
in taqlid at one time (though not, of course, by the same
person), as is the case at present, but any such multiplicity does not
result in any practical disagreement on legal matters within the Shi'ah
community.
Why are there differences among the
mujtahids in their legal opinions?
Many people wonder why it is that the
mujtahids differ in their religious opinions, or fatwas,
when the bases of their ijtihad are the same. Firstly, it should
be said that any differences in the fatwas is hardly ever such as
to be contradictory; it is almost impossible to find a case of one
mujtahid saying some action is wajib and another saying it is
haram.
Take, for instance, the case of
salatu 'l-jum`ah, the Friday prayer. All the Shi'ah `ulama'
are of the opinion that in the time of the presence of the Imam this
salat is obligatory on Fridays, because it is the Imam, or his
representative, who has the right to call the people to Friday prayer;
but they differ as to what is the correct course of action when the Imam
is in Occultation. This difference of opinion does not, however, create
any practical problem for the community. The late Ayatullah as-Sayyid
Muhsin al-Hakim (d. 1970) was one of the opinion that salatu 'l-jum`ah
is not obligatory during the Occultation of the Imam, but it does
not matter if someone performs it supposing that it is expected (of
him), provided that he also prays the noon prayer (salatu 'z-zuhr).
Ayatullah as-Sayyid Abu 'l-Qasim al-Khu'i says that "one can choose
between performing salatu 'z-zuhr or salatu 'l-jum`ah, but
once the latter is established with all its conditions (fulfilled), it
is precautionarily obligatory to participate in it." Ayatullah as-Sayyid
Ruhullah al-Khumayni says that "one can choose between performing
salatu 'z-zuhr or salatu 'l-jum`ah, but if one chooses the
latter it is advisable (mustahab) to precautionarily perform
salatu 'z-zuhr also."
Although there are these differences in the opinions of these
mujtahids, there is no clash that would, for example, prevent the
follower (muqallid) of one of them participating in salatu 'l-jum`ah
if it were established.
Secondly, it should be observed that
the existence of differences in scientific opinions is not to be taken
as a sign of a substantial defect in the quest for knowledge and a
reason for abandoning it altogether; it is, rather, a sign that
knowledge moves in progressive steps towards perfection. Differences of
opinions are to be found in all sciences, not just in fiqh. There
may, for example, be more than one opinion about the therapy for a
particular patient's disease, and all of these opinions may be
superseded later on by the development of new methods of dealing with
that disease. Thus these observations can be seen to be relevant not
only to differences between the opinions of contemporary scientists but
also to historical differences, and all these differences should be
regarded as signs of the dynamism within a science and stages to be
passed in its route to perfection.
It should be remembered that the
mujtahid formulates his opinions after pushing his research and
study as far as he can; that is all that is expected of him, for he is
neither inerrant nor an `alim bi 'l-ghayb (knower of the unseen).
The muqallid is enjoined to follow his opinions. So, even if the
mujtahid's fatwa is not actually in agreement with Allah's real
command, neither he will be punished on the Day of Judgement for having
issued the fatwa, nor will his muqallid for having acted
according to it, for both will have done what was commanded of them and
what was humanly possible for them to do. |